Gaming & Hospitality Legal News: Volume 10, Number 6

IMGL AUTUMN GAMING CONFERENCE IN COPENHAGEN

The International Masters of Gaming Law fall 2017 gaming conference will be held in Copenhagen, Denmark, on September 10–12 at the Copenhagen Marriott Hotel. The conference will include, but not be limited to, substantive presentations on (1) the impact of the United States Supreme Court’s upcoming hearing on New Jersey’s challenge of the sports book restrictions imposed by the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act; (2) the growing presence and regulation of land-based and Internet esports activities; (3) enforcement developments in the worldwide regulatory push to identify and stop money laundering; (4) trends in European gaming; (5) the latest developments in addressing compulsive gambling; (6) the future of fantasy sports if sports books restrictions are lifted in the United States; and (7) the practical impact of the ever-expanding merger of land-based casinos, Internet gaming, skill-based games, government lotteries, and esports. Further details regarding the conference and registration for the conference are available on the International Masters of Gaming Law website at https://www.imgl.org/conferences/autumn/overview/2017.

International Masters of Gaming Law is a nonprofit corporation dedicated to conducting two gaming conferences each calendar year (one in North America and one elsewhere in the gaming world); providing gaming Master Classes in conjunction with unrelated gaming conferences and expos on a worldwide basis; publishing American Gaming Lawyer, Canadian Gaming Lawyer, European Gaming Lawyer, Asian Gaming Lawyer, Indian Gaming Lawyer, and La Ley Del Juego (Spanish gaming publication); supporting the UNLV Gaming Law Journal; and providing substantive gaming-related papers for publication in a variety of commercial and educational publications.

NEVADA’S LOOMING MARIJUANA SHORTAGE: EMERGENCY REGULATIONS ADOPTED
by Jennifer Gaynor, Greg Gemignani, Kate Lowenhar-Fisher, and Jeff Silver

On July 13, the Nevada Tax Commission (the “Commission”) held a public hearing to discuss the potential marijuana product shortfall facing the state’s dispensaries following the launch of state-authorized recreational marijuana sales in Nevada on July 1. The reason for the potential product shortfall: a provision in the initiative petition that legalized recreational marijuana in Nevada that gave an 18-month monopoly on recreational marijuana distribution to licensed liquor distributors.

As of the date of the hearing, there were only two liquor distributors that had received licenses as marijuana distributors. This number appears to be far short of what will be needed to restock Nevada’s 47 licensed retail marijuana dispensaries, which report ongoing heavy traffic from recreational purchasers. According to news sources, these 47 dispensaries reported more than 40,000 retail transactions in the first weekend of recreational sales.

After taking public comment, which included input from liquor distributors and marijuana dispensaries and their representatives, as well as other members of the public, the Commission voted unanimously to adopt the emergency regulations.

The emergency regulations do not automatically open up the recreational marijuana distribution market; they merely give the Nevada Department of Taxation the discretion to consider the situation and make a determination regarding whether more distributors are needed. The regulations include a prescribed process and timeline for the Department to make the determination. In addition, that determination must be made at a publicly noticed meeting, after a request is made with five days’ notice for the state’s marijuana establishments to complete a survey that will help the Department determine if there is a need. This public meeting has not yet been set, but it is expected to be scheduled soon.

Jennifer Gaynor, Greg Gemignani, and Kate Lowenhar-Fisher are Members in Dickinson Wright’s Las Vegas office, and Jeff Silver is Of Counsel in the Las Vegas office. Jennifer Gaynor can be reached at 702.550.4462 or jgaynor@dickinsonwright.com. Jeff Silver can be reached at 702.550.4482 or jsilver@dickinsonwright.com. See the masthead for the contact information of the other authors.

Disclaimer: Gaming & Hospitality Legal News is published by Dickinson Wright PLLC to inform our clients and friends of important developments in the fields of gaming law, federal Indian law, and hospitality law. The content is informational only and does not constitute legal or professional advice. We encourage you to consult a Dickinson Wright attorney if you have specific questions or concerns relating to any of the topics covered in Gaming & Hospitality Legal News.

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